LOOK UP! LOOK DOWN!

With painted ceilings and floors paved in marble, one historic Sicilian property stakes its claim to a dynamic vision for Italian design.

- CHRISTOPHER GARIS

The entry floor of Sara Prato's 1940s country home in Sicily's Enna region features a mix of marbles.

Opposite: The dining room retains its original coffered ceiling by Carmelo Comes, which combines stucco and fresco techniques.

Along, winding dirt road leads to Contrada Conazzo, a farm in the Enna region of Sicily that is owned by Sara Prato and her family. The ruin of the 14th-century Castello di Pietratagliata hulks in the distance, but the land is otherwise dominated by this masseria (a fortified Sicilian farmhouse), one of the most unexpected properties photographer Guido Taroni and I came across while researching our forthcoming book, Inside Sicily (Vendome, September 2025).

In the entry hall a marble staircase leads to a landing with a soaring rectangular window in glass block. The adjacent fresco, original to the house, features imagery of workers in a wheat field.

Opposite: The dining room's red marble mantel is placed below an original Comes fresco.